4. Law and legislation
Finland
Last update: March, 2017
From the point of view of cultural policy the Finnish Constitution (1999) has relevant provisions in four respects - rights and liberties of individuals, equality, freedom of expression and cultural rights of minorities.
Chapter 1 states the basic principle that the constitution promotes justice in society and safeguards the rights of an individual and inviolability of human dignity and freedom.
Chapter 2, Section 6, states the principle that everyone is equal before the law, and no one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.
Chapter 2, Section 12, guarantees freedom of expression but also stipulates that legislative restrictions can be used to censor visual presentations to protect children,
Chapter 2 section 16 (on Educational Rights) guarantees the freedom of science, art and higher education;
Chapter 2, Section 17, defines Swedish language as a parallel national language to Finnish, designates Sami, Roma and Finnish Sign Language as minority languages and Sami as an indigenous culture and stipulates the rights of the Sami and other minority groups to develop their own language and culture;
Chapter 11, Sections 120, stipulates that the Island / Province of Aland will have an autonomous status such as it is defined by special legislation;
Chapter 11, Section 121, guarantees cultural autonomy for the Sami living in the Sami Homeland municipalities. Special legislation defines the scope and contents of this autonomy.
It should be noted that rights and protections stated in these chapters are expressed to belong not only to citizens but "an individual" or "everybody".
Last update: March, 2017
The following Acts in Table 9 provide the legislative basis for financing the arts and culture. The first Act provides the legal and administrative basis for the national lotto, lottery and sports betting monopoly and the second Act specifies the use of profits. The remaining Acts provide the legislative framework for state transfers (subsidies) to municipal and local cultural activities and services (including local / municipal theatres and orchestras). These Acts are frequently accompanied with decrees by the Council of State (Cabinet) or the ministries, which specify in greater detail e.g. the tasks and criteria of professionalism of the institutions. While debating and confirming the annual state budget, Parliament can also pass temporary exceptions to general financial legislation (Budget Laws).
Table 9: Legislation covering the allocation of public funds in the cultural sector
| LEGISLATION | COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| Lottery Act (1047/2001) and Pool Betting Decree (241/1993) | The act and the decree give the government the right to contract the monopoly of 1) lottery / lotto, football pools and betting, 2) slot-machines and casinos, and 3) harness race betting to their appropriate organisers; orders the returns to be channelled to the state budget and earmarks their use to specific "good" purposes |
| Act Regulating the Use of the Profits of Lottery / Lotto, Football Pools and Betting (1054/2001. amended 1191/2005) | Defines the shares of the annual returns of lottery / lotto and sports betting as follows: 25% to sports, 9% to youth policy measures, 17.5% for scientific research and 38.5% to the arts; 10% for discretionary use for these purposes. |
| Act on Central Government Transfers to Municipal Basic Services (1704/2009), renews the transfer legislation, which aggregates most important ("basic") transfer systems and relocates them to be administered as one single package in the Ministry of Finance | General financing law defining the relative share of the state and municipalities in producing basic public services and provides the basic rules for calculating and allocating the transfer of state subsidies to municipalities |
| Act on Financing Education and Culture (previously 635/1998, now 1705/2009), pertaining to the provision of "non-basic" public services financed jointly by the state and municipalities | Specific "Financing Law"defining the rules for calculating and allocating central government transfers (subsidies) to municipal and non-profit local service organisations including professional local and regional theatres, museums, and orchestras |
| Municipal Cultural Activities Act (728/1992, amended 1681/1992) | Legislative basis for the central government support to non-institutional cultural activities in municipalities |
| Museums Act (729/1992, amended 1959/1995, 1166/1996, 877/2005, 1076/2005) | Legislative basis defining professional museums eligible for central government subsidies according to the "Financing Law" |
| Theatres and Orchestras Act (730/1992, Parliament has recently passed an amendment (1066/2007), which adds criteria emphasising artistic aspirations over and above sheer commercial success | Legislative basis defining professional theatres and orchestras eligible for central government subsidies according to the "Financing Law" |
| (Public) Library Act, (904/1998), specified by Decree 1078/1998, defining the tasks of the Central Library and regional libraries in the public library system; its amendment 513/2001 specifies the qualifications of public library personnel | Legislative basis defining the tasks of public (municipal) libraries eligible for central government subsidies according to Act on Central Government Transfers to Municipal Basic Services |
| Act on Discretionary Government Transfers,(688/2001) | Act lays down the grounds and procedures that apply to granting discretionary government transfers (occasional grants-in-aid) to socially or culturally important activities or projects. |
Source: Data Bank FINLEX http://www.finlex.fi/en/
Last update: March, 2017
Cultural workers, including most of the cultural professionals employed in publicly owned or publicly supported cultural service systems – including the performing arts – are covered by the compulsory social security and pension systems. This is also the case for those who are more permanently employed by enterprises of the culture industries and by professional / trade associations in the fields of the arts and culture. This overall social security protection does not, however, cover free (self-employed) artists and free-lance cultural workers.
There have been attempts to improve the pension and social security system of self-employed artists and non-taxable grant receivers. The general Pension Law, the Act on the Pensions of Artists and Some Particular Groups of Short-Time Workers, has standardised the situation for freelance artists and professionals who are employed and working in the premises of an employer. The position of self-employed artists and free-lancers and persons whose work has been financed for long periods by non-taxable grants has remained weak. There have been demands for reforms in three issue areas:
- to include unemployment insurance and pension payments as part of the social security costs, even in the accumulation of shorter-term grants;
- to make the tax-deductions, pension and social security system of artists and freelancers relate better to the uneven and varied flow of artists' income; and
- to improve the rights of artists as freelance entrepreneurs.
Some planning progress has been made in all of these issue areas but only one reform crossed the threshold of legislation. The government presented to Parliament a Bill where self-employed artists and those on short-time grants are given an opportunity to enrol in the pension and social security systems of agricultural entrepreneurs. Parliament passed the Bill and the amended Act entered into force on 1 January 2009. There is not yet information about how well the target groups have used this opportunity.
Last update: March, 2017
There are no legislation or special administrative arrangements that would offer incentives for business sponsorship. On the other hand, income taxation legislation (Income Tax Act, paragraph 57, amended in 2007) offers tax deductions for donations.
More specifically corporate actors (not a private individual) can deduct:
- a minimum of 850 EUR and a maximum of 250 000 EUR donation to promote art or science or to support the protection of the cultural heritage; the deduction limits are the same where the receiver is another EEA state, publicly supported university or other institute of higher education or a fund linked to either of the latter two;
and other deduction limits are
- a minimum of 850 EUR and a maximum of 50 000 EUR donation to promote science, art or to preserve Finnish cultural heritage and where the receiver is an association or a fund linked to either of these two and has its main goal to promote arts, science or preservation of Finnish cultural heritage and belongs to the Taxation Board's list of the rightful receivers.
The Income Tax Act (paragraph 22) also defines the criteria for non-profit organisations ("organisations accruing collective benefits"), which can have total income tax relief for their small-scale non-commercial business activities. There have been debates under which condition this tax relief may be in conflict with the EU Treaty, Article 87, which prohibits competition distorting subsidies or financial transfers of any other forms of resources to market organisations.
Regarding tax rates, the Finnish VAT Act has been enacted to suit the valid EC / EU VAT directives. Since January 2013 the basic VAT-rate in Finland has been 24%. A lower VAT-rate of 10% is applied for books and income fees of cultural, art and entertainment services and performances (entrance fees to museums, box office receipts from cinemas, theatres, orchestras and circus, music and dance performances). The VAT on sales of (non-exported) works of art, by artists or by individual owners of artist's rights (initially zero rated until the end of 2002), is also 10%. The VAT-rate on the price of newspapers and journals was zero until the end of 2011, but since 2012 the lower VAT-rate, now 10%, has been applied also to this sector.
Last update: March, 2017
The main legal instruments that regulate the use of the Finnish labour force are the Act on Labour Contracts and the Act on Civil Servants. Both define the rights of the employees and the obligations of the employers. The Finnish tri-partite system of collective bargaining (income negotiations) "activates" these laws often and this may result in their revision. They – as well as the rounds of collective bargaining – are relevant from the point of view of performing arts and cultural services. Self-employed artists and freelance workers are, of course, outside these laws and the more comprehensive system of collective bargaining, although the negotiation results of these larger systems may also shape their working conditions and benefits.
General labour laws also have regulations that concern discrimination, yet the protection against gender discrimination is stipulated in the Equality Act (see chapter 2.5.5).
Last update: March, 2017
The present Finnish Copyright Act was passed in 1961, and has been altered twenty times since then. The important twenty-first change, adopting national legislation to the EU Directive, took place in October 2005 after a three year controversial preparation process. At the final stage, the Government Bill was heavily criticised and was finally passed after a clause presupposing monitoring of the future development and potential revisions from the point of view of insufficiently considered consumer interests. The critics argued that the new Act is stricter than was required by the EU Directive in respect to private copying and the criminalisation of supplying and possessing programmes for removing copy protection encoding (see chapter 2.9).
Despite the conflict concerning the new Copyright Act, it probably will have, to start with, only minor effects on the functioning of the Finnish copyright system in practice. Within the legislative frame of the Copyright Act, the main copyright and neighbouring rights managing organisations will also in the future be the main protectors of authors' and producers' rights and neighbouring rights. The Finnish Copyright Law is based on the premise that the (somewhat extended) contractual collective licence system permits most effectively the use of an author's work or an artist's performance when the licence agreement has been reached between the user and the respective copyright compensations collecting Collective Management Organisation (CMO), representing a reasonably high number of authors and performers in the field of the agreement.
Since 1984, there has been a system of collecting levies on copying media. The products that are subject to a levy include, at present, all recordable audio and video devices that are used for private copying, such as blank VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs, as well as digital audio and video recorders (e.g. mp3 players and HDD video recorders). There is no levy fee on mobile phones, computers, memory cards, game consoles, USB flash drives and 8 cm (3 in) CD / DVD disks. VAT of 9% is added to the levies.
In 2000-2005, the annual returns of the system were around 10-12 million EUR. In 2009 the annual return dropped to 8.8 million EUR and it has been predicted that the sum for 2010 will be as low as 6.4 million EUR. It is proposed that this decline is due to diminished demand for TV digi boxes, as all households have already digi TV; and another proposed cause is the 2008-2010 economic recession which cut off about one third of demand for electronic equipments. In any case the development led to the Government Decree (16.12.2010) which revised the rates of the compensation fees and included external hard drives / discs to the list of copy-levied items. The present Finnish compensation rates can be found at the Wikipedia site en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy.
These returns are allocated by the Ministry of Education and Culture to the main copyright organisations, which distribute them partly directly to the copyright owners, partly as indirect collective compensation for training, R&D and production subsidies. The collective compensations are also administered by the copyright organisations or their promotion centres, such as AVEK, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture, ESEK (the Performed Music Promotion Centre) and LUSES (the Music Creation Promotion Centre).
The main copyright collecting organisations are Kopiosto (reprographic and digitisation compensation, radio- and television programme retransmission compensation and private copying compensation), Teosto (music authors' and publishers' rights compensation, private copying compensation, public music playing compensation) and Gramex (music neighbouring rights compensation, private copying compensation). The total returns to Kopiosto in 2008 were 23.6 million EUR; the corresponding returns in music copyright and neighbouring rights to Teosto were 53.8 million EUR and Gramex - 18.1 million EUR. Other less prominent, but evolving, CMOs are Kuvasto (for visual arts), Sanasto (for writers and translators, 2.3 million EUR) and Tuotos (for producers in the culture industries, 1 million EUR) - altogether 102.1 million EUR.
The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for copyright legislation and administration. Teosto (see above) has been contracted by the Ministry of Education and Culture to collect the compensation from the levy on media copying. Teosto has a special unit, the Private Copying Unit, for this purpose. The CMOs also have a joint organisation, the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre, for monitoring and preventing copyright violation.
Two specific issues turned out to be problematic in the 2005 revision of the Copyright Act, namely compensation for library loans and the organisation of the collection of re-sale royalties in visual art. Since 1961, the total sum of the annual library loan compensations had been defined as a given per cent share of the book purchase expenditures of public libraries and distributed to the writers and translators via the state budget as grants which they could apply. A similar practice was adopted in compensating music makers for recorded music loans from public libraries. On this basis, the "old" Copyright Act restricted individual rights owners from seeking compensation "privately" for the projected sales losses of their works. In the revision of the Copyright Act, it became fully clear that this restriction was in conflict with the EU Directive on Rental and Lending Rights and Certain Related Rights (92/100/EEC, 2002). Consequently, the text of the Copyright Act now states that the lending right compensations are managed within the framework of a contractual copyright management system and that rights-owners have a CMO of their own. However, so far this has not been put into practice and the immense problem of organising compensation payment for foreign authors has not yet been tackled. The resale compensation system for the works of visual artists, established by an earlier Amendment of the Copyright Act (446/1995), was reorganised to correspond better to the structure and functions of the renovated copyright legislation, that is to say, made to adopt more effectively the contractual collective copyright management model.
Last update: March, 2017
The three main laws are the Personal Data File Act (523/1999), the Act on the Exercise of Freedom of Expression in Mass Media (460/2003) and the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communication (516/2004). The first of these laws (harmonised in 1998 to concur with Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council) pertains to the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. The second law stipulates the responsibility of publishers and producers of public performances and network communications in respect of preventing the publishing of false or insulting information on individual actors. The third law is on public data service providers, to protect the confidentiality of communication and privacy of the users of communication networks. The protection of individual privacy is also stipulated in general terms in the Finnish Constitution.
The implementation of the data protection legislation is organised by the Data Protection Ombudsman and the Data Protection Board. The implications of this legislation and its management for cultural policy can be seen in three areas:
- protection of persons belonging to minority groups;
- direct advertising in culture industries; and
- protection of personal privacy vis-à-vis media exposure and the media's right of expression.
There are no studies yet on how all this national and EU legislation and their implementation might have started to shape the media, cultural industries and cultural policy implementation.
Last update: March, 2017
The Swedish-speaking Finnish population is not only a national minority. The basic ideology of nation-building stipulates that Finland has two parallel cultures, one based on the Swedish-language and the other on the Finnish-language. The rights of the Swedish-speaking population are guaranteed in the newly re-codified Finnish Constitution (1999) and further enacted by a special Language Act, which, together with some special laws, provides for equality for official (administrative, court) use of the native language and access to education and public careers. The new Language Act was passed in 2003 and was enforced from the beginning of 2004; it does not expand language rights but aims at better safeguarding of these rights in practice.
The Constitution gives a special position also to Sami people (as an indigenous minority), to the Roma people and to the users of sign language by mentioning them specifically, but guarantees all minority groups the right "...to maintain and develop their own language and culture". The language rights of these minorities, as well as foreigners, in legal and administrative processes are guaranteed with laws and statutes. The cultural rights of these groups are also enshrined by the ratification of international conventions, especially by the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for the Protection of Regional or Minority Languages.
Last update: March, 2017
Legislation guarding the maintenance of free business competition has obviously had some preventive effects also in the culture industries by curtailing the formation of price-setting monopolies and cartels. The Finnish agency responsible for the implementation of this legislation (Finnish Competition Authority) undertook e.g. an investigation (1998-1999) into a major fusion of the leading Finnish media company with a major publishing house and a company of kiosks distributing books and journals. In some other EU countries the EU directives that aim at preventing competition restrictions have jeopardised the prevailing systems of setting fixed book prices by publishers as these systems have been interpreted as a cartel-based type restriction of competition. The fixed book price system was abolished in Finland in 1972.
Last update: March, 2017
Table 10 below gives an overall view of current legislation, which addresses directly cultural policy issues or indirectly shapes them. The left hand column lists acts and also their most relevant recent amendments, which, in a way, tell the history of debates and objectives after they have become enacted as legislation. The comments in the right hand column summarise the content and cultural policy relevance of the listed legislative act. The code numbers of the acts link them to Finlex, the database / information system of Finnish legislation.
Table 10 in toto demonstrates the supremacy of Parliament as the final instance in deciding not only annual state budgets but also administrative structure and functions of central and local (municipal) administration. The horizontal decentralisation of the Finnish cultural policy system that was reviewed in chapter 1.1 is reflected in the laws and decrees found throughout the Table, but are most apparent in Section I. The role of agencies and arm's length bodies, regional authorities and the autonomous local administration (municipalities) becomes apparent in the sections II and Section III listing the more specific legislation on public financing of the arts and culture; Section IV presents the legislation on national cultural and art institutions and municipal cultural services and Sections V and VI expand the scope of relevant legislation to cover adult education and arts education and training. Sections VII-XIII cover special target areas of cultural policies ranging from media polices to International cultural co-operation. The long list of acts and other legal enactments bears witness of the loyalty to a social welfare state but some crucial amendments, e.g. those of legislation on municipal autonomy, the status and role of universities and promotion of the arts, indicate that the old model is going through major processes of transformation.
Table 10: Current legislation pertaining to cultural policy and cultural administration in Finland
| MAIN CATEGORIES OF CULTURAL POLICY LEGISLATION | COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| I. CULTURAL POLICY DECISION-MAKING AND ADMINISTRATION | |
| Decree of the Ministry of Education and Culture (310/2010; Ordinance on the Organisation and Functions of the Ministry of Education (380/2003, frequent amendments). | These enactments stipulate the structure and functioning of the Ministry. The higher legislative basis consists of the Constitution (731/1999); the Act on the Council of State 175/2003; the Ordinance on the Organisation and Functions of the Ministries (262/2003, frequent amendments). |
| Promotion of the Arts Act (328/1967, amended 635/1997, 366/2000, 667/2002, 283/2004, 1236/2007, 889/2009, 1134/2010) | These enactments have created the present system of national and regional arts councils. The new revised act creating the Finnish Arts Promotion Centre was passed in the Parliament in 2012 and the law came into effect 1 January 2013. |
| Act (1401/2006) and Decree (311/2007) on the (EU) Structural Funds | Organises the relationship between the national authorities and administrative units in planning, financing and implementing the programmes financed within the framework of EU Structural Funds |
| Decree of the Ministry of Education on the jurisdiction of the Board of Education and Province Offices in the Management of Structural Funds Administration (933/2001) | Delegates the planning, implementing and decision-making functions of the Ministry on the EU Structural Funds Programme to the Board of Education and Provincial Offices |
| Act on the National Board of Antiquities (282/2004, original 31/1972, amended 1016/1987, 1080/2001) | Defines the task and organisation of the main expert and policy implementing body of heritage policies. |
| Decree on the National Board of Antiquities (417/2004) | Specifies the Act on the Board of Antiquities e.g. in respect of the status of the National Museum |
| Act on Finnish National Gallery (Art Museum) Act (566/2000, amended 504/2004; original Act 186/1990) | Provides legal basis for an umbrella organisation of three state-owned art museums of domestic, foreign and contemporary art. |
| Act on National Audiovisual Archive 1434/2007 expands the tasks of the earlier Finnish Film Archive by including radio and television programmes in the archival material. | Organises the national administration of archiving films, television and radio programmes |
| Act on preserving and archiving cultural material 1433/2007 | Specifies the division of labour between different preservation and archiving organisations and the scope of their preserving tasks. |
| Act on the Library for the Visually Impaired (638/1996, amended 835/1998, originally 11/1978) | Provides national book services for the visually impaired |
| Decree on the Board for Specific Grants to Visual Artists (116/1997) | Organises the administration of compensation for displaying public art works in public places |
| Act on the Classification of Audiovisual Programmes (775/2000) and on the Board of Film Classification (776/2000, amended 1013/2004) | Age classification of programmes for the protection of children against exhibition of pornography and violence; violations punishable according to Chapter 17 of the Finnish Penal Code |
| Film Promotion Act (28/2000, amended 611/2002, 668/2002) | Provides a legal basis for the activities of the Finnish Film Foundation (founded in 1969) to support national film production |
| II. PROMOTING THE ARTS, ARTISTS AND CREATIVITY | |
| Act on (Art Professors' and) Artists' State-Grants (734/1969,main amended 143/1995 before amendment 1135/2010, which abolished Arts professors' posts; Decree on artists' state-grants 1200/2010 | Provides the legislative basis for the artists' state grants system |
| Promotion of the Arts Act (328/1967, amended 635/1997, 366/2000, 667/2002, 283/2004, 1236/2007, 889/2009, 1134/2010) | These enactments have created the present system of national and regional arts councils. The new revised act creating the Finnish Arts promotion Centre was passed in the Parliament in 2012 and the law came into effect 1 January 2013. |
| Act on Grants and Subsidies for Authors and Translators (236/1961, amended 1080/83, 1067/1993, 1272/1994, 1358/1995, 1040/1996 249/2002, 665/2002) | Provides grants to authors and translators to compensate the library use of their works; since 2000 music creators and performers have received these compensation grants |
| Act on Some Specific Grants for Visual Artists (115/1997, amended 664/2002) | Provides grants for visual artists for the public display of their works |
| Government Resolution on Supplementary Pensions for Artists (75/1974, amendment 974/1992 abolishes the nationality / citizenship requirement) | Provides additional pensions for senior artists and finances their artistic work |
| Act concerning State Indemnity for Art Exhibitions (411/1986, amended 639/1991, 336/1994, 390/1997, 1116/2001) | Guarantees insurance for the organiser of art exhibitions |
| Act on the Pensions of Artists and Some Particular Groups of Short-Time Workers (662/1985, amended frequently). | Safeguards the pension payments and pension rights in short-term employment contracts that are typical for musicians and performing artists |
| III. FINANCING CULTURAL AND ART INSTITUTIONS AND CULTURAL SERVICES | |
| Act on Central Government Transfers to Municipal Basic Services (1704/2009), renews the transfer legislation, which aggregates most important ("basic") transfer systems and relocates them to be administered as one single package in the Ministry of Finance | General financing law, defining the relative share of the state and municipalities in producing basic public services and provides the basic rules for calculating and allocating the transfer of state subsidies to municipalities. |
| Act on Financing Education and Culture (originally 705/1992; now 1705/2009), main amendments 1186/1999, 1071/2005. | Specific "Financing Law"defining the rules for calculating and allocating central government transfers (subsidies) to municipal and non-profit local service organisations including professional local and regional theatres, museums, and orchestras |
| Lottery Act (1047/2001) and Pool Betting Decree (241/1993) | The Act and the decree give the government the right to contract a monopoly of 1) lottery / lotto, football pools and betting, 2) slot-machines and casinos, and 3) harness race betting to their appropriate organisers; orders the returns to be channelled to the state budget and earmarks their use to specific "good" causes |
| Act Regulating the Use of the Profits of Lottery / Lotto, and Sports Betting (1054/2001). | Defines the share of the annual returns of lottery / lotto, and sports betting as follows: 25% to sports, 9% to youth policy measures, 17.5% for scientific research and 38.5% to the arts; 10% left for annual discretionary distribution for these purposes. |
| Government Decree on Organising Lotteries (1345/2001) | Specifies the technical rules for minor (non-monetary prize) lotteries organised e.g. by voluntary associations to finance "good causes" |
| IV. PROFESSIONAL CULTURAL AND ART INSTITUTIONS AND MUNICIPAL CULTURAL SERVICES | |
| Act on the National Board of Antiquities (282/2004, original 31/1972, amended 1016/1987, 1080/2001) | Defines the task and organisation of the main expert and policy implementing body of heritage policies. |
| Decree on the National Board of Antiquities (407/2004) | Specified the Act on the Board of Antiquities e.g. in respect of the status of the National Museum |
| Act on Finnish National Gallery (566/2000, amended 504/2004, previous Act 185/1990) | Provides an umbrella organisation for three state-owned art museums (those of domestic, foreign and contemporary art). This act is currently being amended and will come into effect 1 January 2014 as the FNG will start operating as a foundation. |
| Act on National Audiovisual Archive 1434/2007 expands the tasks of the earlier Finnish Film Archive by including radio and television programmes in the archival material. | Organises the national administration of archiving films, television and radio programmes |
| Act on preserving and archiving cultural material 1433/2007 | Specifies the division of labour between different preservation and archiving organisations and the scope of their preserving tasks. |
| Act on the Library for the Visually Impaired ( 638/1996, amended 835/1998, originally 11/1978) | Provides national printed and audio book services for the visually impaired |
| Municipal Cultural Activities Act (728/1992) | Legislative basis for the central government transfers for support and management of non-institutional cultural activities in municipalities |
| Museums Act (729/1992, amended 1959/1995, 1166/1996, 877/2005, 1076/2005) | Legislative basis defining professional museums eligible for central government subsidies according to the "Financing Law" |
| Theatres and Orchestras Act (730/1992. Parliament has recently passed an amendment (1066/2007), which, as a criterion of professionalism emphasises artistic aspirations over and above sheer commercial success. | Legislative basis defining professional theatres and orchestras eligible for central government subsidies according to the "Financing Law" |
| (Public) Library Act (904/1998), is specified by Decree 1078/1998 defining the tasks of the central Library and regional libraries in the public library system | Legislative basis defining the tasks of public (municipal) libraries eligible for central government subsidies according to the "Act on general government transfers to municipalities" |
| Act on Discretionary Government Transfers(688/2001) | Act lays down the grounds and procedures that apply to granting discretionary government transfers (occasional grants-in-aid) to socially or culturally important activities or projects. |
| V. ADULT EDUCATION | |
| Act on Vocational Adult Education (631/1998, amended 1292/2004, 1200/2004) | A new integrating law that professionalises the traditional forms of voluntary adult education and lays the ground for public support |
| Act on Liberal Adult Education (632/1998, amended 1765/2009) | Defines the prevailing forms of general voluntary adult education, affirms their position and type of management and also affirms their type and level of public financing. |
| VI. ARTS EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THE ARTISTS | |
|
Higher Education Development Act (1052/1986, amended 1207/1993, 943/1996, 1279/2001) Repealed by Act 558/2009, see below | |
| Universities Act (558/2009), this new Act is a kind of desetatisation law dividing existing universities in two modes of management, either as public corporations or foundation-based institutions. | Defines the units, structure, functioning and financing and management of the two types of universities |
| Act on Basic Education in the Arts (originally 424/1992, now 633/1998, several amendments since 2000) | Integrates the organisation of extracurricular art education for children and youth and lays the basis for its public financing |
| Vocational Education Act (630/1998, frequent amendments | Legislative basis for lower vocational education, including culture (handicraft, design, audiovisual media, visual expression, dance and music ) |
| Polytechnics Act (351/2003 and Decree (351/2003) | Define the objectives and organisation of polytechnic education, including higher professional / vocational education in the arts, culture, media and humanities. New legislation for polytechnics is being developed on a government proposal from 2012, to be in operation from 1.1.2014. |
| Act on Pilot Programme on Postgraduate Studies in Polytechnic Institutions (645/2001). The Act was enforced up to 31.7.2005 | A further step to remodel polytechnics' degree structure to that of universities |
| VII. BROADCASTING, FILM, MASS MEDIA, CULTURE INDUSTRIES | |
| Film Art Promotion Act (28/2000) | This Act provides a legal basis for the functioning of the Finnish Film Institute |
| Decree on the Promotion of Film Art (843/2007) | Specifies the previous Act |
| Act on Radio and Television Activities (744/1998) | Defines the prerequisites for the broadcasting operations and their licensing by public authorities |
| Act on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (FBC, 1380/1993, amended 746/1998). A new act repeals these acts from January 1 2013. | Defines the role of the FBC as a public service radio and television company and defines the mode of its (parliamentary) control. The new act, in operation since January 1 2013, establishes the new model for the governance of and a taxation-based model for the financing of the FBC. |
| Act on Audiovisual Programmes (710/2011) and the Act on the Finnish Centre for Media Education and Audiovisual Programmes (711/2011). | These acts repeal the former acts on age classification of programmes for the protection of children against exhibition of pornography and violence and establish a centre for media education and audiovisual media which started to operate in 2012. |
| VIII. TAXATION | |
| Act on Value Added Tax (1501/1993), especially amendments 1265/1997, 1071/2002 and 1202/2011 paragraph 85a that defines a lower tax rate (initially 8% and after amendment 1202/2011 a rate of 9%) for cultural products (initially only books, but from 2012 also newspaper and journal subscriptions which before had a tax rate of 0%) and cultural and entertainment services. | Several amendments due to the EU directives, the latest (1071/2002) extended the law to cover the trade of art objects. |
| Decree on Value Added Tax (50/1994) | Specifies the previous law |
| IX. FREE COMPETITION | |
|
Act on Competition Restrictions (480/1992), major amendment 400/2003, 447-448/2004, (318/2004) Act on the Finnish Competition Authority (711/1988) Decree on the Finnish Competition Authority (66/1993) Market Court Act (1527/2001) | Basis of the Finnish legislation on competition restriction and it administration; harmonised to correspond to the EU directives |
| X. COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS | |
| Copyright Act (original 174/1927, now 404/1961, twenty-one amendments). The latest amendment bill precipitated by the Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society was after a long preparation and decision-making process passed by Parliament in 2005. These amendments, (821/2005) although formally a part of the 1961 leg., are often referred to as the "Karpela Act" after the name of the Minister of Culture | Numerous special amendments due to the EU copyright directives and international agreements; an extensive system of copyright organisations has evolved for the enforcement of the law and for collecting and distributing the revenues of copyright compensation. Parallel to this process, Parliament has decided on the ratification of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Treaty on Performances and Phonograms. |
| Amendment 1228/2006 of the 1961 Copyright Act and of the Act on Grants and Subsidies for Authors and Translators (236/1961) | Instead of compensation through the grant system financed from the State Budget the amendment stipulates establishing a rights owners' contractual collective licence system The restriction preventing individual loan compensations is annulled. |
| Amendment of the Copyright Act 446/1995, establishing the resale compensation system for the works of visual artists | In the "new" copyright legislation a new Amendment (45/2006) alters the management of resale compensation collection to correspond to the overall approach of the new copyright legislation. The new contractual collective management system is still under construction. |
| XI. CULTURAL HERITAGE | |
| Museums Act (729/1992, amended 1459/1995, 1166/1996, 1076/2005) | Legal basis for professional museum activities and their organisation |
| Act on Archaeological Sites (295/1963, several amendments in 1995-2009 | Provides legislative basis for the protection of sites and their excavation |
| Archives Act (831/1994, previous Act 184/1981) | Provides legislative basis for the National Archive system and for the principles regarding the deposit of relevant archive materials and support for public and private archives |
| Decree on Archives (1012/1982) | Specifies the previous Act |
| Act on National Audiovisual Archive 1434/ 2007 expands the tasks of the earlier Finnish Film Archive by including radio and television programmes in the archival material. | Organises the national administration of archiving, and radio and television programmes |
| Act on preserving and archiving cultural material 1433/2007 | Specifies the division of labour between different preservation and archiving organisations and the scope of their preservation tasks. |
| Build Heritage Protection Act 498/2010 (originally Building Protection Act 60/1985, repealed by the present Act) | Provides a legislative resort for the protection of historically and architecturally significant buildings and sites |
| Act on Restricting Export of Objects of Cultural Value (previously 445/1978, now 115/1999) | Takes into consideration the Council Regulation (EEC) 3911/1992 |
| Act on the Administration of the Suomenlinna Fortress (1145/1988) | Provides the legislative basis for the administration of a fortress site that belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage List |
| XII. MINORITIES AND IMMIGRANTS | |
| Finnish Constitution (731/1999), paragraph 17 | Defines the Swedish language as a parallel national language to Finnish, specifies Sami, Roma and Finnish Sign Language as minority languages; designates Sami as an indigenous culture and stipulates the rights of the Sami and other minority groups to develop their own culture |
| Language Act (423/2003, originally 148/1922) ) and Sami Language Act (1080/2003, originally 516/1991) | The Language Act specifies the right and obligation for official use of the two national languages in different proportional Swedish-Finnish population contexts. The Sami Language Act provides for the right to use the Sami language officially at least through interpretation and to receive official documents in Sami. |
| Decree on the Board for Developing the Official Use of the Swedish Language (1037/2000) | Provides an agency for co-ordinating and developing the official use of the Swedish language |
| Finnish Constitution, paragraph 121 | Guarantees cultural autonomy for the Sami living in Sami Homeland municipalities |
| Act on the Sami Parliament (974/1995, amended 975/1995, 1726/1995, 888/1996) | Provides the legislative basis for the advisory elected body that must be heard in Sami affairs. Defines also the borders of Sami Homeland |
| Act on the Autonomy of Aland (144/1991) | Stipulates the internationally and constitutionally confirmed autonomy of the province of Aland |
| Finnish Constitution, Chapter 2 | Deals with human rights issues from general equality and discrimination to educational rights and rights to own native language and culture |
| Aliens Act (301/2004, frequent amendments, the amendment 973/2007 is basically in itself a new Act) | Stipulates the rules for foreigners to enter and stay in Finland, defines their human and political rights and rights to stay and unite with their family members; the law has been amended frequently; the latest comprehensive Amendment (973/2007) depicts a complex network of authorities and long chain of scrutiny facing an immigrant or a refuge seeker. |
| Decree on Labour Offices Authorised to Carry out Tasks Stipulated in the Aliens Act, 421/2006 | Specifies the previous law, defines its implementers at regional level of the state administration |
| Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Refugees (493/1999, amended 118/2002, 1292/2002, 1215/2005) | Guarantees the material and economic basis for the immediate care and integration of immigrants and refugees |
| Decree on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Refugees (511/1999) | Specifies the previous law |
| XIII. INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL CO-OPERATION | |
| Decree on the National Entry into Force of the Constitution of UNESCO (549/1956, amended 426/1967) | International agreements, conventions, charters, etc. are entered into force by national legislation (by acts of Parliament or decrees) that incorporate them into national legislation or amends the latter as required. |
| Decree on the National Commission for UNESCO (1262/2002, repeals decree 163/1966 and amendment1168/1992) | See the comment above |
| Decree on the National Entry into Force of the Constitution of the Council of Europe (410/1989) | See the comment above |
| Decree on the National Entry into Force of the European Cultural Convention (98/1970) | See the comment above |
| Decree on the National Entry into Force of the Nordic Cultural Treaty (909/1971) | See the comment above |
| Decree on the National Entry into Force of the Statutes of the Nordic Cultural Fund (199/1977) | See the comment above |
| XIV. THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS, CHARTERS AND AGREEMENTS ON HUMAN AND CULTURAL RIGHTS RATIFIED BY FINLAND | |
| ·ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ·ICESCR, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ·CERD, Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ·CRC, Convention on the Rights of the Child ·CEDAW, Convention Eliminating All kinds of Discrimination Against Women ·European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ·European Charter for the Protection of Regional or Minority Languages ·European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ·European Social Charter ·Protocol No 3 on the Act of Accession to the European Union ·UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions ·UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage | |
| Finland co-operates on a national basis and as a Member State of the European Union with the following international organisations in minority issues: the United Nations, Council of Europe, Council of the Baltic Sea States, OSCE, ILO, UNESCO. | |
Source: databank FINLEX http://www.finlex.fi/en/
Last update: March, 2017
See the legislation in Table 10, Section XI for legislation, chapter 3.1 and chapter 1.3.1-1.3.3 for their contents and contexts.
Last update: March, 2017
Legislation for performing artists is the same as the general legislation covering individual artists presented in Table 11 in chapter 4.2.4, see also chapter 1.3.1.
Last update: March, 2017
Finnish legislation on the arts and artists covers, on the one hand, public support and artists' rights on an individual level and, on the other hand, public support to the cultural and art institutions. The latter will be discussed in greater detail in chapter 1.3.3.
The following Table contains information on the main legislation for the arts and individual artists. It indicates that this legislation pertains mainly to financial support, that is, the systems of artists' grants and pensions and support to projects and to the enhancement of creative environments. See also chapter 7.2.1 to 7.2.4.
Table 11: Promoting the arts, artists and creativity
| LEGISLATION | COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| Act on (Art Professors' and) Artists' State-Grants (734/1969,main amended 143/1995 before amendment 1135/2010, which abolished Arts professors' posts; Decree on artists' state-grants 1200/2010 | Provides the legislative basis for the artists' state grants system |
| Promotion of the Arts Act (328/1967, amended 635/1997, 366/2000, 667/2002, 283/2004, 1236/2007, 889/2009, 1134/2010) | These enactments have created the present system of national and regional arts councils. The new revised act creating the Finnish Arts Promotion Centre was passed by the Parliament in 2012 and the law came into effect 1 January 2013. |
| Act on Grants and Subsidies for Authors and Translators (236/1961, amended 1080/83, 1067/1993, 1272/1994, 1358/1995, 1040/1996 249/2002, 665/2002) | Provides grants to authors and translators to compensate for library use of their works; since 2000 music creators and performers have received these compensation grants |
| Act on Some Specific Grants for Visual Artists (115/1997, amended 664/2002) | Provides grants for visual artists to compensate for the public display of their works |
| Government Resolution on Supplementary Pensions for Artists (75/1974, amendment 974/1992 abolishes the nationality / citizenship requirement) | Provides additional pensions for senior artists and finances their artistic work |
| Act concerning State Indemnity for Art Exhibitions (411/1986, amended 639/1991, 336/1994, 390/1997, 1116/2001) | Guarantees insurance for the organiser of art exhibitions |
| Act on the Pensions of Artists and Some Particular Groups of Short-Time Workers (662/1985, amended frequently). | Safeguards the pension payments and pension rights in short-term employment contracts that are typical for musicians, performing artists, journalists, set-designers, etc. |
Source: databank FINLEX http://www.finlex.fi/en/
Under the auspices of the Copyright Act some copyright compensation has been channelled to rights' owners as grants. Thus, authors and translators have had, in addition to opportunities offered by the state artists' grant system, a special grant system under the Act on Grants and Subsidies for Authors and Translators (1961). The funds for the grants are channelled via the state budget. Grants must be applied and there is a special board for peer group evaluation. The 2005 amendments of the Copyright Act presuppose that a new compensation system is adopted. This system is based on an individual author's right to be compensated in terms of the number of loans of his / her works. This system, which pays compensation to foreign authors, is still under construction.
The (Public) Library Act (904/1998) provides the legislative basis defining the tasks of public municipal libraries eligible for central government subsidies according to the Financing Law. It is specified by Decree 1078/1998 defining the tasks of the Public Central Library and regional libraries and its amendment 513/2001 specifies the qualifications of public library personnel.
The fixed book price system was abolished in Finland in 1972.
For more detailed information see Table 11 in chapter 4.2.4 and Table 18 in chapter 1.3.1.
Last update: March, 2017
Film, video and photography
Legislation pertains mainly to the production of feature and documentary films, to television and radio activities and the censorship of films and videos (and, currently also to computer and console games).
Support for national production of feature films is channelled via the Finnish Film Foundation. The Act and the Decree on Film Production (2000, 2007) defines the organisation, structure and functions of financial support channelled via the Foundation to Finnish cinema. Besides the main function, this support embraces also distribution and various forms of export, international co-productions, promotion and PR-activities.
Acts on Radio and Television, on the Finnish Broadcasting Company and on the State Television and Radio Fund are all important not only for audiences but also business to business, that is, from the point of view of that television is one "market place" among others for national feature film and independent television programme producers.
The Finnish censorship system for films, videos and games is considered both flexible and effective in its present form.
Table 12: Legislation on film, radio, television
| LEGISLATION | COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| Film Art Promotion Act (28/2000) | This Act was needed to provide a legal basis for the functioning of the Finnish Film Institute |
| Decree on the Promotion of Film Art (843/2007)) | Specifies the previous Act |
| Act on Radio and Television Activities (744/1998, amendments 490/2002, 394/2003, 1190/2005) | Defines the prerequisites for the broadcasting operations and their licensing by public authorities |
| Act on the Finnish Broadcasting Company (FBC, 1380/1993, amended 746/1998) | Defines the role of the FBC as a public service radio and television company and defines the mode of its (parliamentary) control |
| Act on the State Television and Radio Fund (745/1998) | Defines the organising of the collection and the mode of use of radio and television licence fees |
| Act on Audiovisual Programmes (710/2011) and the Act on the Finnish Centre for Media Education and Audiovisual Programmes (711/2011). | These acts repeal the former acts on age classification of programmes for the protection of children against exhibition of pornography and violence; and establish a centre for media education and audiovisual media which started to operate in 2012. |
| Act on National Audiovisual Archive 1434/2007 expands the tasks of the earlier Finnish Film Archive by including radio and television programmes in the archival material. | Organises the national administration of archiving films, television and radio programmes |
| Act on preserving and archiving cultural material 1433/2007 | Specifies the division of labour between different preservation and archiving organisations and the scope of their preserving tasks. |
Source: Databank FINLEX http://www.finlex.fi/en/
Mass media
TV programme quotas are set out in the 1998 Act on Radio and Television Activities and adhere to the stipulations of the EU Directive "Television Without Frontiers". The Finnish legislation follows Articles 4.1 of the Directive that presupposes the transmission of European programmes on TV-channels for "...a majority proportion of their transmission time, excluding the time appointed to news, sports events, games, advertising and teletext services". Following the stipulations of Article 5 of the Directive, the Finnish Act on Radio and Television Activities sets a quota of 15% for programmes by independent producers, with a clause that these programmes must have been produced during the last five years.
The Finnish Film Foundation, which is the main public agency responsible for the support of cinema, had previously no legislative basis in public law; its founding was based on the Foundation Act (109/1938) that stipulates the founding, organisation and administration of both public and private foundations. In the re-codification of the Finnish Constitution (1999) special attention was paid to the importance of not delegating public powers to private organisations without affirmation by an enacted law. This led to the need to prepare and pass the Film Art Promotion Act in 2000, which legitimised the position of the Film Foundation. Basically, the Act has not altered the modus operandi of the Film Foundation.
Last update: March, 2017
If we exclude education, the Finnish cultural policy measures reach architecture only as an art form and architects as artists. Consequently, the overall legislation on public promotion of the arts and financial support for artists presented in Table 11 of chapter 4.2.4 contains, in addition to education and training, the only directly relevant legislation.
The Build Heritage Protection Act 498/2010 (originally Building Protection Act 60/1985, repealed by the present Act) protects buildings, built areas and built cultural environments, which have value from the perspective of cultural history. This protection pertains to buildings in zoned areas. The Land Use and Building Act (132/1999) defines the zoning system (where municipalities have the zoning monopoly) and thus provides "ex ante protection" for the built environment. Archaeological sites and monuments and church buildings are protected by the Act on Archaeological Sites and Monuments (295/1963) and the Church Act (635/1964) respectively.